


Carpe Noctem

by Anderson (SpookofDarwath)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Drama, First War with Voldemort, Hogwarts, Hogwarts Seventh Year, Marauders, Marauders Friendship, Marauders' Era, Realistic, Romance, first wizarding war
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-20
Updated: 2015-08-20
Packaged: 2018-04-16 08:00:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4617618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpookofDarwath/pseuds/Anderson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>American magical students are transferred to Hogwarts after attacks from Voldemort's supporters threatens the safety of the school. </p>
<p>Kathleen Phillips is one of Hogwarts's newest Gryffindor students. </p>
<p>She manages to find herself in the company of the Marauders and catching the eye of the most eligible bachelor at Hogwarts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Carpe Noctem

A trail of oddly dressed youngsters trailed across the grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry tugging hefty trunks over the grass. Twenty-four swishing cloaks followed the tall and severe figure of Minerva McGonagall towards the front doors of the giant castle. Many of the younger new students were having a difficult time hoisting their trunks through the wet grounds, so much so that many of the senior students had to stop and help them pull their luggage from the mud.

 

Walking among these young people was the moody face of Kathleen Phillips. Trudging through the grass was not how she had intended to spend her first day at her new school. She flipped her strawberry-blonde hair back behind her shoulder for what felt like the millionth time, Kathleen longingly looked up at the doors of Hogwarts feeling as if the doors weren’t getting much closer. It felt like they had walked several miles but the castle only seemed to creep closer.

 

The sun finally seemed to disappear behind the horizon. Kathleen inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. After leaving the heat of her old school’s location, the European weather was strikingly more humid than she was accustomed to. It made Kathleen think back to her old school wondering what would be happening in two days time when the term started. There would be no students looking forward to a new semester at Columbus Academy for Gifted Students, no excited new faces nor the older, seasoned ones. No one would be rushing through the doors of the school chattering with friends they haven’t seen all summer break.

Looking around, Kathleen realized just how different new school would be. None of her friends from Columbus would be coming to Hogwarts with her. Their parents had elected to homeschool their children when the school’s administration announced the closing of the school shortly after the beginning of the summer break.

The Wizarding War was finally leaking into her continent and after a string of attacks from You-Know-Who’s followers threatened the safety of witches and wizards in the United States parents quickly began pulling their children out of class. Kathleen’s parents had made her finish the semester before coming home so she watched as slowly her classmates dwindled down.

 

Kathleen jumped out of her revere as the creaking of the castle’s front doors met her ears. With a sigh of relief escaped her lips as she entered into the foyer of the castle. The sun was filling in through the doors as the students circled around Professor McGonagall, quieting at her expression.

“Welcome to Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. As I said early, I am Professor McGonagall and I am the Gryffindor Head of House. There are four houses at Hogwarts, which you will soon be sorted into. Those houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin” Professor McGonagall began swiftly, “You will follow me into the Headmaster’s Office where you will be sorted.”

After an affirmative nod the Professor began down the hallway and the students trailed along behind her once again. Hogwarts Castle was filled with much to see as Kathleen walked through the winding halls behind the professor. The walls were lined with many different tapestries and paintings. Some were of knights in shining armor on valiant steads while others depicted ladies wrapped in toga-like dresses with stern faces. One thing the paintings had in common was that every patron depicted in them was watching the parade of students with eager curiosity.

 

And why shouldn’t they be?, Kathleen wondered, how often was it that students from another school transitioned into Hogwarts?

She briefly tried to recall if it had ever been talked about in her school’s Magical History class.

 

After what seemed like fifteen minutes of walking through many doors and down several long halls, Professor McGonagall stopped in front of a large statue of a griffin.

 

“Licorice toffees,” the Professor said with a stern voice.

 

A few of the students in the group chuckled at the words but silence resumed when the griffon statue moved away to reveal a staircase.

Without missing a beat, the professor started up the stairs. Kathleen quickly followed behind her.

They filed into a large office with many twinkling devices. On the walls were many stone-faced portraits, presumably of the previous headmasters, watching in earnest. A large desk sat in the center of the room and behind it was a man with a long beard and eyes that twinkled behind half-moon spectacles.

Professor McGonagall lined them up in a half circle around the current headmaster’s desk. She then pulled a stool from mid air and placed a large, old hat on the stool. Kathleen hadn’t seen where she had gotten it from, she was much too distracted by the office’s many magical devices. It wasn’t until the man behind the desk began to speak that she turned her attention away from the walls.

 

“Welcome, students, to your new home. At least for this year.” He began, eyes twinkling even brighter. Kathleen felt his eyes on her momentarily as he glanced at every face in the room. “I am Professor Dumbledore, your headmaster. We decided it would be better to sort you into your houses now before the beginning of term so that you may settle into your dormitories sooner. You will sit when Professor McGonagall calls your name and place the hat on your head. It will sort you as it sees fit.”

Professor McGonagall stiffened and pulled a roll of parchment from her robes. She unrolled it quickly and began.

“Alvarez, Sarah.”

A small Hispanic girl moved forward, her curly hair bouncing behind her shoulders as she moved to sit in the chair.

She sat and nervously put the hat on her head. Within moments the hat’s brim spread apart to form a mouth and the hat shouted, “Hufflepuff,” and was quiet once more.

 

Kathleen felt her heart beat settle. She hadn’t been aware how nervous she was until that moment.

“Anderson, Trevor.” An older boy Kathleen recognized from her year moved forward. He had sandy blonde hair with a freckled complexion.

“Ravenclaw,” the hat shouted.

Kathleen began looking around the room again. She glanced around at the fellow students beside her but most of them were transfixed with the sorting. When her name was called she jumped nervously.

“Phillips, Kathleen.” She moved forward to the chair and felt her hands go clammy.

Don’t be stupid, she thought, it’s just a hat. But something about it made her feel…judged.

She sat unceremoniously and placed the hat on her head.

For a moment, it was quiet.

“Hmmmm….a kind heart, yes….Could you be a Hufflepuff? But brave as well…and a good head on your shoulders. Let’s see, let’s see… _Gryffindor_!”

Kathleen breathed a sigh of relief and jumped back into the row of students, her face red despite herself.

The rest of the sorting went smoothly. Three other students were sorted into Gryffindor besides herself. Kathleen noted that only one of them looked even remotely familiar, a stocky older boy that she thinks she had a Healing class with the year before. There was also a tall dark haired girl with bright blue eyes and a young boy who looked to be barely old enough to be here.

 

“Gryffindors will follow me. I will show you to your dormitories. As for the other houses, your Heads are waiting outside the door. They will lead you to your dormitories" Professor McGonagall said. 

There was a moment of silence before the many students shuffled into groups and the new Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, and Slytherins disappeared through the door leaving the new Gryffindor students standing in Dumbledore’s office. Professor McGonagall smiled at them for the first time all evening.

“Welcome to my house. Follow me.” She said kindly before showing them back down the stairs and through the doorway.

More walking, Kathleen thought as yet again she dragged her trunk behind her. It began to feel like it weighed 500 pounds. Luckily it didn’t seem to take long to find their destination. After walking through a trick door, a confusing set of stairways (Kathleen saw one move as they walked away) and two long hallways they reached a large portrait of a Fat Lady.

“Password?” She asked lazily.

“Nocturnus Spook” McGonagall spoke clearly.

The students stood behind her curiously as the portrait swung forward to reveal a hole in the wall leading to a large common room. There were many finely stuffed chairs with a large warm fireplace that looked perfect for studying beside. McGonagall pointed out the stairways to the boys’ and girls’ dormitories before ushering them four of them off to bed.

Kathleen made her way up the stairs to the girl’s dormitories and walked up until she saw the one that read “7th Years”. It was a roomy dorm with several four-poster beds. Each had bedsheets of red and gold with large fluffy pillows. Kathleen flopped down on the bed and let go a giant breath, staring up into the ceiling. She removed her shoes and kicked them under the bed and explored the bathrooms attached to the dorms and then walked back over to her trunk.

“Well, there’s no way I’m going to sleep any time soon. Might as well unpack.” Kathleen said tiredly and lifted the lid of her trunk.

The clothes went away into her drawers with brand new black Hogwarts uniforms replacing her old navy blue Columbus robes. She organized and reorganized her sock drawer hoping to kill some time but still found herself sitting alone in an empty room. She unrolled her posters of the US National Quidditch team as well as her own personal favorite, the Sweetwater All-Stars and placed them up on the walls beside her bed. Finally, she pulled out the photographs of her mother and father, her sister, and her friends from Columbus and placed them on her side table. They smiled up at her happily, her father waved slightly from the corner of the frame.

Her heart lurched momentarily with homesickness. She wished quietly that her sister had been old enough to go to school so that she wouldn’t be so alone here. Kathleen had only been outside of the United States once in her life before and now she was living in a foreign land.

Kathleen stripped down and pulled on her most comfortable pajamas. Climbing into bed she briefly wondered what it would be like a couple days time when the rest of Hogwarts’s students arrived.

Did they know that new students would be among them? It would surely be strange to see new faces for the older students. Students never switched schools.

Kathleen watched an owl fly across the grounds as she got into bed and relaxed. She would have plenty of time to worry about making friends. For now, all she wanted to do was sleep.

 

 

A knock on her dormitory door woke her early the next morning.

Shuffling out of bed she opened the door with her eyes still crusty from sleep. The dark haired girl who had also been sorted into her house stood in the hall already dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a Muggle baseball jersey.

“Professor McGonagall is here. She said we are all to head down to breakfast with her in fifteen minutes.” She said with a slight southern accent.

“Thanks,” murmured Kathleen, “I’ll be down in a second. I need to change.”

The dark haired girl nodded before disappearing down the hall. Kathleen quickly threw on the first pair of pants and tshirt she could find before brushing a comb through her hair and pulling it back into a ponytail. She brushed her teeth and ran down the stairs.

 

The other three students were already standing by the portrait hole waiting with the professor.

 

“Right, follow me.” Professor McGonagall said at the sight of Kathleen and she made her way out the portrait hole.

They reached the Great Hall unceremoniously and saw four long tables stretching the hall. One long table sat at the head of the hall and Kathleen assumed this was for the professors. The students she came to Hogwarts with the night before were seated at the table to the far right. They were chattering away quietly over many golden plates filled with food. The smells of maple syrup and warm bread met Kathleen’s nose and her stomach gurgled emptily.

The Gryffindor students sat down near the edge of the table and dug in. Kathleen made herself a plate of pancakes and ate it rapidly, even opting for seconds. After they had all finished clearing their plates and it was clear everyone was contently full, Professor McGonagall and the other Heads of Houses stood.

 

“You will now follow your House Heads to their office. Since you are transferring into a new school we must decide what classes you need to take this semester. Older students must select elective classes to take as well.” Professor McGonagall said sternly before dismissing the students.

Not twenty minutes later Kathleen found herself sitting in front of the Professor in her office, overlooking her transcript of the first six years of her schooling at Columbus.

“Ms. Phillips it looks like you are caught up. 6 years of Defensive Magic and Offensive Magic, 6 years of Charms, Transfiguration, and Potions. Last year you took Healing, American Magical Subcultures, Herbology, and Magical Law. You have determined your career path, yes?” The professor looked over her spectacles at Kathleen.

“Um, yes…I want to be a Healer.” Kathleen said uncomfortably.

“Alright, I recommend we put you in the core classes as well as one elective course. You may pick from these.” McGonagall placed a list in front of Kathleen. None of the classes sounded remotely interesting to Kathleen. Columbus had a much broader range of classes.

“I guess I’ll take Ancient Studies.” Kathleen said shrugging her shoulders.

She left Professor McGonagall’s office a quarter after eleven holding her new schedule. Looking over she noted the different classes.

 

“Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Potions…” She read out loud.

 

Kathleen wandered through the castle, hoping she’d manage to find the Gryffindor common room again but after she turned down yet another empty hallway she began to give up. She sighed loudly and turned back the way she came only to find it had become a wall.

 

“Just _great_.” Kathleen said dramatically.

 

With her former way now blocked, she turned and headed down the empty hallway.

 

She believed she was somewhere on the sixth floor by now, but knowing her luck she wasn’t anywhere near that. Turning another corner that looked identical to the one she had just walked around voices could be heard down the hallway. She stopped momentarily trying to determine who was speaking.

 

There were multiple voices all speaking just loud enough to be heard though Kathleen couldn’t make out what was being said. Kathleen continued quietly down the hallway and determined that the voices were coming from a classroom on her left. The door was cracked open and she could see three figures standing just beyond the door.

 

Curiosity got the better of her and she stood listening.

 

“The students shouldn’t being hearing about all of this.” A gruff voice said, Kathleen could see a man gesture down at the desk between the figures.

 

“What do you suppose we do? We can’t tell students not to order the paper” said the familiar voice of Professor McGonagall.

 

“Even if we did, they’d hear it all from their parents. There’s no keeping the news out of this school.” A squeaky voice chimed in.

 

Kathleen felt an itch in her nose and tried desperately not to sneeze. Unfortunately, nothing she did stopped it. The sneeze echoed down the hallway and silence followed, the voices in the classroom no longer talking.

Professor McGonagall tore open the door to the classroom and glared out at Kathleen.

“Ms. Phillips, are you lost?” the professor’s tone caused Kathleen’s face to flush, caught in the act of eavesdropping.

 

“Um, yes, Professor. I’m trying to find the Gryffindor Common Room…” Kathleen shuffled uncomfortably.

 

“Around the corner, to your left. Take the stairs up and the corridor is on your right” Professor McGonagall said briskly.

 

Kathleen took no time to get herself down the hallway and sure enough found the portrait of the Fat Lady exactly where the professor said it would be.

The cackling fire in the common room could not fill the empty feeling that cold hallway left in her gut.

 

Kathleen couldn’t help but wonder just how safe Hogwarts was after all…even the professors seemed to be cautious about how much the students should know.

She knew that the heart of the Wizarding War was happening in Europe but many American magic folk, her parents included, believed that as long as Dumbledore was here Hogwarts was the safest place on Earth.

 

Kathleen lay in bed that night wondering just how much was being kept from her and other young people. She’d be legally of age in just a few months time but the way the adults in her life made it sound, she might as well be eleven years old again.


End file.
